Severity of Prior Coronavirus Disease 2019 is Associated With Postoperative Outcomes After Major Inpatient Surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To determine how the severity of prior history (Hx) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection influences postoperative outcomes after major elective inpatient surgery. BACKGROUND: Surgical guidelines instituted early in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic recommended a delay in surgery of up to 8 weeks after an acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. This was based on the observation of elevated surgical risk after recovery from COVID-19 early in the pandemic. As the pandemic shifts to an endemic phase, it is unclear whether this association remains, especially for those recovering from asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic COVID-19. METHODS: Utilizing the National COVID Cohort Collaborative, we assessed postoperative outcomes for adults with and without a Hx of COVID-19 who underwent major elective inpatient surgery between January 2020 and February 2023. COVID-19 severity and time from infection to surgery were each used as independent variables in multivariable logistic regression models. RESULTS: This study included 387,030 patients, of whom 37,354 (9.7%) were diagnosed with preoperative COVID-19. Hx of COVID-19 was found to be an independent risk factor for adverse postoperative outcomes even after a 12-week delay for patients with moderate and severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. Patients with mild COVID-19 did not have an increased risk of adverse postoperative outcomes at any time point. Vaccination decreased the odds of respiratory failure. CONCLUSIONS: Impact of COVID-19 on postoperative outcomes is dependent on the severity of illness, with only moderate and severe disease leading to a higher risk of adverse outcomes. Existing perioperative policies should be updated to include consideration of COVID-19 disease severity and vaccination status.

Severity of Prior COVID-19 Infection is Associated with Postoperative Outcomes Following Major Inpatient Surgery.

Objective: To determine the association between severity of prior history of SARS-CoV-2 infection and postoperative outcomes following major elective inpatient surgery. Summary Background Data: Surgical guidelines instituted early in the COVID-19 pandemic recommended delay in surgery up to 8 weeks following an acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. Given that surgical delay can lead to worse medical outcomes, it is unclear if continuation of such stringent policies is necessary and beneficial for all patients, especially those recovering from asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic COVID-19. Methods: Utilizing the National Covid Cohort Collaborative (N3C), we assessed postoperative outcomes for adults with and without a history of COVID-19 who underwent major elective inpatient surgery between January 2020 and February 2023. COVID-19 severity and time from SARS-CoV-2 infection to surgery were each used as independent variables in multivariable logistic regression models. Results: This study included 387,030 patients, of which 37,354 (9.7%) had a diagnosis of preoperative COVID-19. History of COVID-19 was found to be an independent risk factor for adverse postoperative outcomes even after a 12-week delay for patients with moderate and severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. Patients with mild COVID-19 did not have an increased risk of adverse postoperative outcomes at any time point. Vaccination decreased the odds of mortality and other complications. Conclusions: Impact of COVID-19 on postoperative outcomes is dependent on severity of illness, with only moderate and severe disease leading to higher risk of adverse outcomes. Existing wait time policies should be updated to include consideration of COVID-19 disease severity and vaccination status.

Preoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection increases risk of early postoperative cardiovascular complications following noncardiac surgery.

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic progresses to an endemic phase, a greater number of patients with a history of COVID-19 will undergo surgery. Major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACE) are the primary contributors to postoperative morbidity and mortality; however, studies assessing the relationship between a previous severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and postoperative MACE outcomes are limited. Here, we analyzed retrospective data from 457,804 patients within the N3C Data Enclave, the largest national, multi-institutional data set on COVID-19 in the United States. However, 7.4% of patients had a history of COVID-19 before surgery. When comorbidities, age, race, and risk of surgery were controlled, patients with preoperative COVID-19 had an increased risk for 30-day postoperative MACE. MACE risk was influenced by an interplay between COVID-19 disease severity and time between surgery and infection; in those with mild disease, MACE risk was not increased even among those undergoing surgery within 4 wk following infection. In those with moderate disease, risk for postoperative MACE was mitigated 8 wk after infection, whereas patients with severe disease continued to have elevated postoperative MACE risk even after waiting for 8 wk. Being fully vaccinated decreased the risk for postoperative MACE in both patients with no history of COVID-19 and in those with breakthrough COVID-19 infection. Together, our results suggest that a thorough assessment of the severity, vaccination status, and timing of SARS-CoV-2 infection must be a mandatory part of perioperative stratification.NEW & NOTEWORTHY With an increasing proportion of patients undergoing surgery with a prior history of COVID-19, it is crucial to understand the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on postoperative cardiovascular/cerebrovascular risk. Our work assesses a large, national, multi-institutional cohort of patients to highlight that COVID-19 infection increases risk for postoperative major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACE). MACE risk is influenced by an interplay between disease severity and time between infection and surgery, and full vaccination reduces the risk for 30-day postoperative MACE. These results highlight the importance of stratifying time-to-surgery guidelines based on disease severity.

Is the future female for turtles? Climate change and wetland configuration predict sex ratios of a freshwater species.

Climate change and land-use change are leading drivers of biodiversity decline, affecting demographic parameters that are important for population persistence. For example, scientists have speculated for decades that climate change may skew adult sex ratios in taxa that express temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), but limited evidence exists that this phenomenon is occurring in natural settings. For species that are vulnerable to anthropogenic land-use practices, differential mortality among sexes may also skew sex ratios. We sampled the spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata), a freshwater species with TSD, across a large portion of its geographic range (Florida to Maine), to assess the environmental factors influencing adult sex ratios. We present evidence that suggests recent climate change has potentially skewed the adult sex ratio of spotted turtles, with samples following a pattern of increased proportions of females concomitant with warming trends, but only within the warmer areas sampled. At intermediate temperatures, there was no relationship with climate, while in the cooler areas we found the opposite pattern, with samples becoming more male biased with increasing temperatures. These patterns might be explained in part by variation in relative adaptive capacity via phenotypic plasticity in nest site selection. Our findings also suggest that spotted turtles have a context-dependent and multi-scale relationship with land use. We observed a negative relationship between male proportion and the amount of crop cover (within 300 m) when wetlands were less spatially aggregated. However, when wetlands were aggregated, sex ratios remained consistent. This pattern may reflect sex-specific patterns in movement that render males more vulnerable to mortality from agricultural machinery and other threats. Our findings highlight the complexity of species' responses to both climate change and land use, and emphasize the role that landscape structure can play in shaping wildlife population demographics.

Propofol Sedation Alters Perceptual and Cognitive Functions in Healthy Volunteers as Revealed by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

BACKGROUND: Elucidating networks underlying conscious perception is important to understanding the mechanisms of anesthesia and consciousness. Previous studies have observed changes associated with loss of consciousness primarily using resting paradigms. The authors focused on the effects of sedation on specific cognitive systems using task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging. The authors hypothesized deepening sedation would degrade semantic more than perceptual discrimination. METHODS: Discrimination of pure tones and familiar names were studied in 13 volunteers during wakefulness and propofol sedation targeted to light and deep sedation. Contrasts highlighted specific cognitive systems: auditory/motor (tones vs. fixation), phonology (unfamiliar names vs. tones), and semantics (familiar vs. unfamiliar names), and were performed across sedation conditions, followed by region of interest analysis on representative regions. RESULTS: During light sedation, the spatial extent of auditory/motor activation was similar, becoming restricted to the superior temporal gyrus during deep sedation. Region of interest analysis revealed significant activation in the superior temporal gyrus during light (t [17] = 9.71, P < 0.001) and deep sedation (t [19] = 3.73, P = 0.001). Spatial extent of the phonologic contrast decreased progressively with sedation, with significant activation in the inferior frontal gyrus maintained during light sedation (t [35] = 5.17, P < 0.001), which didn't meet criteria for significance in deep sedation (t [38] = 2.57, P = 0.014). The semantic contrast showed a similar pattern, with activation in the angular gyrus during light sedation (t [16] = 4.76, P = 0.002), which disappeared in deep sedation (t [18] = 0.35, P = 0.731). CONCLUSIONS: Results illustrate broad impairment in cognitive cortex during sedation, with activation in primary sensory cortex beyond loss of consciousness. These results agree with clinical experience: a dose-dependent reduction of higher cognitive functions during light sedation, despite partial preservation of sensory processes through deep sedation.

Regional entropy of functional imaging signals varies differently in sensory and cognitive systems during propofol-modulated loss and return of behavioral responsiveness.

The level and richness of consciousness depend on information integration in the brain. Altered interregional functional interactions may indicate disrupted information integration during anesthetic-induced unconsciousness. How anesthetics modulate the amount of information in various brain regions has received less attention. Here, we propose a novel approach to quantify regional information content in the brain by the entropy of the principal components of regional blood oxygen-dependent imaging signals during graded propofol sedation. Fifteen healthy individuals underwent resting-state scans in wakeful baseline, light sedation (conscious), deep sedation (unconscious), and recovery (conscious). Light sedation characterized by lethargic behavioral responses was associated with global reduction of entropy in the brain. Deep sedation with completely suppressed overt responsiveness was associated with further reductions of entropy in sensory (primary and higher sensory plus orbital prefrontal cortices) but not high-order cognitive (dorsal and medial prefrontal, cingulate, parietotemporal cortices and hippocampal areas) systems. Upon recovery of responsiveness, entropy was restored in the sensory but not in high-order cognitive systems. These findings provide novel evidence for a reduction of information content of the brain as a potential systems-level mechanism of reduced consciousness during propofol anesthesia. The differential changes of entropy in the sensory and high-order cognitive systems associated with losing and regaining overt responsiveness are consistent with the notion of "disconnected consciousness", in which a complete sensory-motor disconnection from the environment occurs with preserved internal mentation.

Fine-Grained Parcellation of Brain Connectivity Improves Differentiation of States of Consciousness During Graded Propofol Sedation.

Conscious perception relies on interactions between spatially and functionally distinct modules of the brain at various spatiotemporal scales. These interactions are altered by anesthesia, an intervention that leads to fading consciousness. Relatively little is known about brain functional connectivity and its anesthetic modulation at a fine spatial scale. Here, we used functional imaging to examine propofol-induced changes in functional connectivity in brain networks defined at a fine-grained parcellation based on a combination of anatomical and functional features. Fifteen healthy volunteers underwent resting-state functional imaging in wakeful baseline, mild sedation, deep sedation, and recovery of consciousness. Compared with wakeful baseline, propofol produced widespread, dose-dependent functional connectivity changes that scaled with the extent to which consciousness was altered. The dominant changes in connectivity were associated with the frontal lobes. By examining node pairs that demonstrated a trend of functional connectivity change between wakefulness and deep sedation, quadratic discriminant analysis differentiated the states of consciousness in individual participants more accurately at a fine-grained parcellation (e.g., 2000 nodes) than at a coarse-grained parcellation (e.g., 116 anatomical nodes). Our study suggests that defining brain networks at a high granularity may provide a superior imaging-based distinction of the graded effect of anesthesia on consciousness.

Propofol attenuates low-frequency fluctuations of resting-state fMRI BOLD signal in the anterior frontal cortex upon loss of consciousness.

Recent studies indicate that spontaneous low-frequency fluctuations (LFFs) of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals are driven by the slow (<0.1Hz) modulation of ongoing neuronal activity synchronized locally and across remote brain regions. How regional LFFs of the BOLD fMRI signal are altered during anesthetic-induced alteration of consciousness is not well understood. Using rs-fMRI in 15 healthy participants, we show that during administration of propofol to achieve loss of behavioral responsiveness indexing unconsciousness, the fractional amplitude of LFF (fALFF index) was reduced in comparison to wakeful baseline in the anterior frontal regions, temporal pole, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and amygdala. Such changes were absent in large areas of the motor, parietal, and sensory cortices. During light sedation characterized by the preservation of overt responsiveness and therefore consciousness, fALFF was reduced in the subcortical areas, temporal pole, medial orbital frontal cortex, cingulate cortex, and cerebellum. Between light sedation and deep sedation, fALFF was reduced primarily in the medial and dorsolateral frontal areas. The preferential reduction of LFFs in the anterior frontal regions is consistent with frontal to sensory-motor cortical disconnection and may contribute to the suppression of consciousness during general anesthesia.

Outcome analysis of continuous intraoperative renal replacement therapy in the highest acuity liver transplant recipients: A single-center experience.

BACKGROUND: Orthotopic liver transplantation is the definitive treatment modality for patients with end-stage liver disease. Pre-orthotopic liver transplantation renal dysfunction has a significant negative influence on outcomes post-orthotopic liver transplantation. Intraoperative renal replacement therapy is an adjunctive therapy to address the metabolic challenges during orthotopic liver transplantation in patients with a high acuity of illness. The impact of intraoperative renal replacement therapy on post-orthotopic liver transplantation outcomes, however, is unclear. METHODS: From October of 2012 to April of 2016, 96 adult patients underwent orthotopic liver transplantation for end-stage liver disease. Three groups were identified: (1) Group I: patients with pre-orthotopic liver transplantation renal dysfunction who underwent intraoperative renal replacement therapy, (2) Group II: patients with pre-orthotopic liver transplantation renal dysfunction who did not receive intraoperative renal replacement therapy, and (3) Group III: patients with orthotopic liver transplantation without evidence of pretransplant renal dysfunction. RESULTS: At 17.7 months follow-up, there was no difference in survival among the study groups. Physiologic model for end-stage liver disease at the time of orthotopic liver transplantation was significantly higher in both groups with renal dysfunction (I = 43, II = 39) than in Group III (18). Post-orthotopic liver transplantation, 12-month patient survival in Group II was 100%. While the model for end-stage liver disease score at orthotopic liver transplantation was significantly different between Group I and Group III, the 12-month, post-orthotopic liver transplantation patient survival was comparable at 78% vs 88%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Intraoperative renal replacement therapy is a safe adjunctive therapy during liver transplantation of critically ill patients with renal dysfunction. Identifying patients who require intraoperative renal replacement therapy would improve intraoperative and post-liver transplant survival and may facilitate recovery of native kidney function after transplant.

Hydroxocobalamin for Vasoplegic Syndrome in Liver Transplantation: Restoration of Blood Pressure Without Vasospasm.

Systemic vasoplegia is common in patients undergoing liver transplantation. In this report, we present a case in which treatment with conventional vasopressors caused peripheral arterial spasm, rendering arterial blood pressure monitoring impossible. Administration of methylene blue resolved the vasospasm; however, concern for toxic dose requirements limited its use. Hydroxocobalamin administration resolved the vasospasm and increased blood pressure without the potential adverse effects seen with methylene blue. This case represents the first report of hydroxocobalamin use in liver transplantation and may represent a new option for the treatment of vasoplegia and the potential vasospasm that may result from traditional vasopressors.

Neuroanesthesiology fellowship training: curricular guidelines from the Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology and Critical Care.

Standardization and accreditation of fellowship training have been considered in the field of neuroanesthesiology. A prior survey of members of the Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesiology and Critical Care (SNACC) suggested strong support for accreditation and standardization. In response, SNACC created a Task Force that developed curricular guidelines for neuroanesthesiology fellowship training programs. These guidelines represent a first step toward standards for neuroanesthesiology training and will be useful if accreditation is pursued in the future.

Differential effects of deep sedation with propofol on the specific and nonspecific thalamocortical systems: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

BACKGROUND: The current state of knowledge suggests that disruption of neuronal information integration may be a common mechanism of anesthetic-induced unconsciousness. A neural system critical for information integration is the thalamocortical system whose specific and nonspecific divisions may play the roles for representing and integrating information, respectively. How anesthetics affect the function of these systems individually is not completely understood. The authors studied the effect of propofol on thalamocortical functional connectivity in the specific and nonspecific systems, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. METHODS: Eight healthy volunteers were instructed to listen to and encode 40 English words during wakeful baseline, light sedation, deep sedation, and recovery in the scanner. Functional connectivity was determined as the temporal correlation of blood oxygen level-dependent signals with seed regions defined within the specific and nonspecific thalamic nuclei. RESULTS: Thalamocortical connectivity at baseline was dominantly medial and bilateral frontal and temporal for the specific system, and medial frontal and medial parietal for the nonspecific system. During deep sedation, propofol reduced functional connectivity by 43% (specific) and 79% (nonspecific), a significantly greater reduction in the nonspecific than in the specific system and in the left hemisphere than in the right. Upon regaining consciousness, functional connectivity increased by 58% (specific) and 123% (nonspecific) during recovery, exceeding their values at baseline. CONCLUSIONS: Propofol conferred differential changes in functional connectivity of the specific and nonspecific thalamocortical systems, particularly in left hemisphere, consistent with the verbal nature of stimuli and task. The changes in nonspecific thalamocortical connectivity may correlate with the loss and return of consciousness.

Propofol disrupts functional interactions between sensory and high-order processing of auditory verbal memory.

Current theories suggest that disrupting cortical information integration may account for the mechanism of general anesthesia in suppressing consciousness. Human cognitive operations take place in hierarchically structured neural organizations in the brain. The process of low-order neural representation of sensory stimuli becoming integrated in high-order cortices is also known as cognitive binding. Combining neuroimaging, cognitive neuroscience, and anesthetic manipulation, we examined how cognitive networks involved in auditory verbal memory are maintained in wakefulness, disrupted in propofol-induced deep sedation, and re-established in recovery. Inspired by the notion of cognitive binding, an functional magnetic resonance imaging-guided connectivity analysis was utilized to assess the integrity of functional interactions within and between different levels of the task-defined brain regions. Task-related responses persisted in the primary auditory cortex (PAC), but vanished in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and premotor areas in deep sedation. For connectivity analysis, seed regions representing sensory and high-order processing of the memory task were identified in the PAC and IFG. Propofol disrupted connections from the PAC seed to the frontal regions and thalamus, but not the connections from the IFG seed to a set of widely distributed brain regions in the temporal, frontal, and parietal lobes (with exception of the PAC). These later regions have been implicated in mediating verbal comprehension and memory. These results suggest that propofol disrupts cognition by blocking the projection of sensory information to high-order processing networks and thus preventing information integration. Such findings contribute to our understanding of anesthetic mechanisms as related to information and integration in the brain.

Accreditation and standardization of neuroanesthesia fellowship programs: results of a specialty-wide survey.

The question of accreditation and standardization of neuroanesthesia fellowship training programs in the U.S. has been discussed extensively within the field. Although numerous opinion pieces have been published, there are no data indicating the level of support or opposition for accreditation of subspecialty training among specialists in the field of neuroanesthesia. To address this gap in knowledge, a web-based survey was designed and electronically distributed to members of the Society of Neurosurgical Anesthesia and Critical Care (SNACC) that were practicing in the United States (n=339). The primary question assessed support for subspecialty accreditation. In addition, the participants were asked to rate the importance of various curricular elements for a neuroanesthesia fellowship training program. Over a 1-month period, there were 134 responses in total (40% of the sample). Ninety percent of the respondents identified themselves as having a university affiliation. Of the respondents, 64% indicated support for accreditation, 20% indicated opposition, and the remainder was equivocal. Career development, neurocritical care, and intraoperative neuromonitoring were the top 3 subjects thought to be essential to a neuroanesthesia fellowship. The majority supported a 1-year fellowship training program. These data indicate measurable support among members of SNACC for a process toward the accreditation of neuroanesthesia fellowship training programs.

Peripheral blood pressure changes induced by dobutamine do not alter BOLD signals in the human brain.

In extending the use of functional MRI to neuropharmacology, a primary area of concern is that peripheral blood pressure changes induced by pharmacological agents could independently produce a change in the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal, resulting in difficulties distinguishing or interpreting drug-induced neural activations. In the present study, we utilized intravenous dobutamine, a beta-adrenergic receptor agonist, to increase the mean arterial blood pressure (MABP), while examining the effects of MABP changes on the BOLD signal in cocaine-dependent participants. Dobutamine infusion significantly increased the MABP from 93 +/- 8 mm Hg to 106 +/- 12 mm Hg (P < 0.0005), but did not produce a significant global BOLD signal. Yet, a few voxels in the anterior cingulate showed BOLD signal changes that paralleled the changes in blood pressure (BP). Our observations support the conclusion that following the infusion of psychoactive agents, brain BOLD signals accurately reflect neuronal activity, even in the face of relatively large peripheral cardiovascular effects that transiently increase systemic BP.

Diagnosis of intracranial arterial stenosis using transcranial Doppler flowmetry.

In this case report we describe the use of transcranial Doppler flowmetry during induction of anesthesia in a patient with a large pituitary tumor. In this patient, both IV anesthesia induction and onset hyperventilation were followed by severe decreases of flow velocity in the middle cerebral artery of the affected side. Transcranial Doppler detected critical blood flow reduction in response to anesthesia induction and onset of hyperventilation in a brain tumor patient.

Focal cerebral ischemia in rats produced by intracarotid embolization with viscous silicone.

Many factors contribute to the severity of neuronal cell death and the functional outcome in stroke. We describe an embolic model of focal cerebral ischemia in the rat that does not require craniotomy and is compatible with continuous measurement of regional CBF using multichannel laser Doppler flow (LDF) technique. Either a 22 microliters (large lesion) or 11 microliters (small lesion) bolus of viscous silicone was injected cephalad into the internal carotid artery. Upon injection, LDF decreased abruptly, most severely in the parietal cortex (-74% +/- 5%) in the large lesion and in the occipital cortex (-69% +/- 10%) in the small lesion model. Over the first hour, post-embolization LDF improved in most areas (e.g. -48% +/- 9% parietal, large lesion) but declined in the small lesion group in the occipital region (-81% +/- 8%). CBF measured by [C]14-IAP autoradiography 1 h post-embolization in the large lesion model demonstrated near-hemispheric ischemia (70% of hemisphere) with sparing of cingulate cortex. Autoradiography demonstrated that ischemia in the small lesion was largely cortical. Light microscopy of brains embolized with 11 microliters of dyed silicone showed filling of pial vessels with no silicone in the Circle of Willis or parenchyma. No animals in the large lesion group survived 24 h. Thirteen of 15 animals in the small lesion group survived for two weeks with resolution of initial hemiplegia, ocular asymmetry and weight loss. Hematoxylin-eosin staining two weeks post-embolization showed signs of severe hypoxia and infarction. In conclusion, the intracarotid silicone embolization technique produces a titrable, reproducible permanent ischemic injury by blocking perfusion in the pial circulation, and is amenable to multisite monitoring with laser Doppler flowmetry. The smaller embolus produces cortical infarction with high rate of survival and neurological recovery.